‘Planned obsolescence’ a frightening theme for new comic | Comic Box

Posted May 21, 2019

"Nobody Is in Control, Part One: Planned Obsolesence'' by Patrick Kindlon, with art by Paulo Tucker and lettering by Wallace Ryan, follows a former talk radio host into the backwoods of Georgia following his retirement.

I remember the exact moment I learned what planned obsolescence was. It blew my young mind, and I was shocked it was legal because I knew it sure wasn’t “right.”

It is only recently that I learned that in some places it isn’t legal to produce goods designed to become obsolete so they’ll have to be replaced. I was less shocked that it was illegal outside of America because, of course, if something like that was going to be legal it would be in the United States where what is right is often synonymous with what is profitable.

And now I sound like a crazy person to a vast swath of readers, which is funny because I know that when it comes to suspicion and paranoia directed toward the systems that control our lives, I barely plumb the depths of the possible rabbit hole.

On the other hand, Patrick Kindlon skips the rabbit hole and goes straight for the black hole of conspiracy theories in his new book, “Nobody Is in Control, Part One: Planned Obsolescence,” with art by Paulo Tucker and lettering by Wallace Ryan.

Kindlon’s story starts out deep in the woods of Georgia where retired radio host Richard Savare has retreated. Talk radio has long been -- and continues to be -- a place where conspiracy theorists can reach out and hear each other and share their thoughts, and Savare was in the thick of it before he retired. A founder of Speak Truth, he catered to people who sought out such ideas.

From what we can gather in the first issue, Savare didn’t buy into anything wholeheartedly, but he had his finger on the pulse of the underground. He was aware but informed, skeptical but accepting of what he heard.

Since then, he has burned out, has come to hate what he once loved and, it seems, is more than a little depressed and cynical, hiding away in the woods and immersing himself in the natural world and its straightforward innocence.

Of course, anyone can tell you that it is impossible to disappear in the modern world, and while that usually has to do with the ubiquitousness of surveillance and digital records, Richard is dragged back into the world in a much stranger way. Enjoying the peace and solitude of his home and the miles of woods around it, Richard sees a man run by his house, which shouldn’t really be possible.

Running after this stranger in a strange place, Richard meets Nick. In a full suit with a briefcase attached to his wrist, Nick is definitely not a camper, which is made only more clear as Nick expounds on the true nature of the world in an ever more erratic way enhanced by Tucker’s artwork as he shifts panels from Richard and Nick’s objective reality to scenes reflecting their conversation.

The whole thing just gets weirder and weirder as the issue goes on, ending with an abrupt implication that Nick might not be as crazy as he seems and Richard might have been running from the truth when he retired after all.

Kindlon’s title, “Nobody Is In Control,” is a bit of tease here. It states with certainty something we are immediately led to question. His main character doesn’t seem sure of the veracity of that statement. And I, for one, can’t really believe anybody is truly in control. After all, to believe this would require me to put entirely too much faith in the ability of humans to pull off something incredibly complex and keep it secret. That is a tall ask.

On the other hand, it might be possible that there is a middle ground between the reality most of us perceive and the truth of the world and the mechanisms working below the surface.

By the end of the first issue, it seems clear that Richard at least is coming around to the idea.